Fascination
by QueenoftheJellybean
Summary: It wasn't love at first sigh or anything equally sappy. It was more like fascination. She held his attention and it irked him to no end. So what if her heart rate sped up a little when she looked up from the desk? Sometimes her brain jut did that. It had absolutely nothing to do with the handsome man standing in the doorway. (T because I'm paranoid)
1. First Impressions- Balthazar

**AN: Sorry I know this is tedious so basically I wrote this. I might continue it depends what you lot think. **

**The Chapter thing seems confusing but it's simple every two chapters (1 & 2, 3 & 4 etc) will have the same story just told in different characters' points of view. **

Balthazar

It wasn't love at first sight or anything equally sappy. It was more like fascination. He couldn't bring himself to hate her despite the stupidity of the rest of her race and that made him curious. What was it about her? He didn't even know who she was. To him she was the girl behind the counter of the coffee shop he was currently lined up in. It was a rustic coffee shop on the corner of a historical street in London. The roof was strung with fairy lights and none of the chairs and tables matched. The menu was printed on the tiled walls with whiteboard marker, the handwriting was spiky and messy and Balthazar guessed it was Matt's- the other man behind the counter. Normally Balthazar would just snap his fingers and his desired beverage would appear in his hand but he was undercover so the normal way it was. Besides he really needs to know why this stupid human was so interesting. He was close enough to the woman to read her name tag. It read Ellie in the same spiky untidy writing the walls were printed with. Balthazar was honestly surprised by this, he had become quite good and figuring out these pathetic humans, unless the man next to her had written on her badge. He checked the other guy's badge. Matt was written in equally untidy writing but it wasn't nearly as pleasing as Ellie's handwriting.

Balthazar mulled over how curious this human was while he waited in line. She smiled at people she took orders from and double checked how to spell names. But why would that cause the weird sensation he was feeling? Some humans are unbearably kind. Before he knew it is was his turn to order. She smiled at him too.

"What can I get you, sir?" She asked blowing a stay curl from her eyes.

"What would you recommend?" He asks and smiles charmingly because hey she's pretty and he figures it's the only way to get her to spend time with him until he figure out what is so endearing about her. Needless to say he's a little surprised when she seems unfazed. She chews her lip and blows the curl again.

"Depends what do you want it for? Are you trying to keep awake or do you want something yummy?" She asks and he smirks at her choice of words.

"Something yummy," She doesn't even seem to notice his smirk. She smiles.

"I'd go a caramel latte then, what do you think Matt?" Matt, who's been watching the whole exchange with an amused smile, gives him a thumbs up.

"One large caramel latte then," This time he piles all his flirtation and charm powers into his voice and his expression. His jaw almost drops when there is no reaction at all.

"Take-away?" He nods and she picks up a large paper cup printed with the logo and a green felt tip.

"Who's this for?" Without even thinking he says his name. Not a fake name, not his vessel's name, he says Balthazar. Ellie looks at him with a small smile.

"Ah Christian parents, don't worry I'm in the same boat, Ellie's short for Elijah. Just to check that's B-A-L-T-H-A-Z-A-R yeah?" He nods again and watches as she scribbles something on the cup. She then tallies it up and he hands her the correct amount of money.

"Oi Matt you man the till for a bit. I ought to make some orders," Ellie says and swaps places with Matt. Balthazar moves aside to make room for the next customer and watches as Ellie tries to smooth her red curls behind her ears.

"You can sit at a table, mate. You don't have to watch me like a hawk. I promise I won't poison you," She says over the top of the coffee machine with a small smirk. If Balthazar wasn't in control of his blood he would have blushed. He grins at her.

"That's the thing with pretty girls. You don't realise they're lying until it's too late," Balthazar smirks victoriously when he sees a blush dusting her freckled cheeks.

"Good thing I'm not pretty then," She says matter of factly and Balthazar is just about to snort when he realises that could be considered rude. Wait since when did he care about offending these pathetic humans? What was this woman doing to him! He was kind of in awe of the woman standing in front of him. Either she has nerves of steel or has never flirted in her life. Or maybe she's into chicks or she's had a bad boyfriend experience. Any of these is just as possible as the others and it's the first time in a long while Balthazar has absolutely no idea. This makes him cross, this is one of the reasons he hates humans so much. They're all different and do crazy stupid things to win wars and for love. It's not just the stupid things they do it's their attitudes. There are some who are great and do brilliant things like Albert Einstein but the majority of them are boring or scumbags. He could never quite understand why dad had liked them better than the angels. His train of thought stops when he hears Ellie calling his name. She hands him his coffee and tells him to have a nice day with a smile.

Balthazar pulls his long coat over his blazer and steps into the London freeze. He pulls his scarf tight around his neck and takes a sip of his coffee. Its warmth spreads from his chest to his fingertips and tastes sweet like caramel and a tiny bit salty. Ellie was right this coffee is delicious. Balthazar turns his cup around in his hands to make them warm. That's when his eye catches green writing. To be specific it's spiky untidy writing. He turns the cup around fully and he doesn't know why it's so pleasing to see his name written in her abrupt handwriting. But that's not all that's written, under his name is a message, it reads: 'Better luck next time bible-boy'. He looks down at the cup with a small smile and takes another swig of his coffee. That's another thing he misjudged about Ellie. Her cutesy name, freckles, dimples and copper ringlets surrounding her face gave her the aura of a sweet little girl. She was a lot bolder than he had expected. Better luck next time indeed he thinks as he walks away from the shop.


	2. First Impressions- Ellie

It had been Matt's idea to get part time jobs. They searched far and wide for something that appealed to them and they finally found the little coffee and book shop tucked into the heart of London. They both loved the mismatching and relaxed feel so; together they had gone for an interview. The owner, Mrs Koopeche, hired them almost immediately. There weren't many people employed at the coffee shop. There was her, Matt, Ava, John, Melody and Oliver. The six of them rotated between manning the till, making the orders, cooking, waiting tables and being in charge of the book corner. The six of them all became friends quite quickly despite the age gaps and often go out for dinner or have sleepovers together. Work was relaxed and they were allowed to wear whatever they wanted under the brown leather apron so long as most of their hair was tied back.

It was a particularly chilly day the first time she met him. Even inside the warm coffee shop she needed jeans and a long sleeved shirt to keep warm, but that's English winter for you. Ellie was glad to be rugged up inside the softly lit shop and found the tinkling if cups and the quiet conversation relaxing. She heard the sound of the bell attached to the door quietly ringing.

So what if he heart rate sped up a little when she looked up from the desk? Sometimes her brain jut did that. It had absolutely nothing to do with the handsome man standing in the doorway, nothing at all. And her knees didn't go a bit wobbly when he unwound his scarf and took off his jacket, nor when he ran a hand through his hair. It's definitely unfair how attractive some people are. Snapping her mind back to the present she took the next girl's order and handed it to Matt.

Ellie didn't really know why she was so attracted to him. It wasn't just his good looks, although that helped, there was something else. It floated in the air between them in an addictive way. She didn't know what it was but it made her curious, which is odd because she doesn't even know who he is. Her fascination with a total stranger in the coffee shop was almost embarrassing. She could feel his gaze on her as she took the next man's order. She fought down the blush that was bound to rise and smiled when he stepped forward.

"What can I get you, sir?" she asked and nervously blew a stray curl from her eyes. The man is looking at her intensely and it's a little off putting. Then he smiles at Ellie and the air rushes out of her lungs because, damn, that smile.

"What would you recommend?" She actually gasps for air when she hears his voice which is stupid because he's just a stranger. It's deep and gravelly and on top of a London accent is a lilt from somewhere else and she can't help wonder if he sings. She chews on her lip until she trusts her voice then she tucks the curl behind her ear.

"Depends what do you want it for? Are you trying to keep awake or do you want something yummy?" She asks and he grins at her. No way is she letting some random cocky guy affect her so much. Instead she stands up a little straighter and steels her nerves, she's not an object to be won, she's a person.

"Something yummy," Ellie chooses to ignore his smirk and honestly thinks for a second. Something yummy... Ah of course! She smiles at him.

"I'd got a caramel latte then, what do you think Matt?" Matt gives the man a thumbs up with an amused smile. The man nods.

"One large caramel latte then," he says and if Ellie already thought his voice was hot before his voice now was like a volcano erupting. Beneath the counter her foot kicked the inside but she didn't let him know what effect his voice had on her.

"Take-away?" He nods and she picks the large paper cup and her green felt tip. She asks who it's for and when he says his names he's honestly surprised. In a way Balthazar fits him. It's certainly unique and a little but odd in the same way he is but it seems too innocent and angelic for the sinful man in front of her.

"Ah Christian parents," she assumes, "Don't worry I'm in the same boat Ellie is actually short for Elijah," She honestly has no idea why she's telling him all this. Her double checks she's spelt his name and without thinking scribbles something else on the cup. She then demands to switch places with Matt so she can hide behind the coffee machine. She smooths her loose curls off her face and begins making the first order- a hot chocolate. She tries her best to ignore Balthazar's eyes on her and she makes it through the hot chocolate before she gets uncomfortable.

"You can sit down, mate. You don't have to watch me like a hawk, I promise I won't poison you," she says and smirks at his bashful expressions. Then he grins.

"That's the thing with pretty girls. You don't realise they're lying until it's too late," Ellie curses in her mind as her cheeks heat up. She's really not that pretty her hair is unruly and never does what she wants; she's taller than most women and her skin in covered with imperfections like freckles and scars.

"It's a good thing I'm not pretty then," She says before she could say anything else and Balthazar gets a weird look on his face then he falls silent. She finishes the flat white and gets Ava to take it to the correct table before she begins on his caramel latte. She's made them a thousand times over, they're her favourite coffee, and can pretty much do it without thought. She still hasn't figured out what is so endearing about this man and it irks her to no end. There has to be some way to see him again. And there's no way she's going on a date with him. She only just met him. So instead she just hopes he'll be back. She put a pinch of salt into the cup and popped the lid on. He's still standing there deep in thought when she calls his name. He snaps out of it and takes his coffee with a smile and a quick thanks.

She watches him slip on the burgundy trench coat and wind a grey scarf around his neck before he steps outside into the winter air. He takes a sip of his caramel latte and Ellie smiles at his delighted expression. He turns the cup around with a frown and raises and eyebrow at what she's written there. Then takes another swig, smirks and walks out of her view. Better luck next time, that's what she wrote and hopefully it spurred him on.


	3. Back to Zero- Balthazar

**AN: So apparently people like this. Reviews are welcome and feel free to correct me if you see a mistake. Enjoy. Or don't, Balthazar doesn't care. **

Balthazar

Balthazar had tried to forget Ellie, he really had, but for some reason she kept popping into his head. It may have something to do with the defaced paper cup sitting on his shelf. Four times he'd walked up to the cup and nearly picked it up. Five times he's picked it up only to stop turn around and put it back. Twice he's thrown it in the paper bin and left it there for no longer than five minutes before retrieving it and putting it on the shelf. He doesn't really know why he kept the cup. At first it was pure laziness and general couldn't-be-bothered but within 24 hours he should have thrown it in the bin and forgotten all about the girl. But he didn't, he couldn't and she wouldn't leave him alone. Balthazar was infuriated. How had this worthless human worked her way into his life, he's only spoken to her once dammit!

He told himself it was because she was still an unsolved mystery. He needed to know what drew him to her. Of all the places and people in the world why a redhead in a small coffee shop in London? That was his excuse and that was how he had found himself standing out the front of the coffee shop again. He could see Ellie through the window laughing with her co-workers while they danced to some unheard tune and cleaned the empty shop. You could say Balthazar was acting a tad creepy stalker like and he probably wouldn't argue.

For a moment he stands on the threshold deciding his next move when a girl with dark hair meets his eyes. She turns and yells something and the people about her laugh then she turns back to him with a smirk and gestures for him to come inside. Just as Balthazar opens the door Ellie pops her head around another at the back of the shop.

"Pardon?" She asks and blows her hair out of her slightly red face. Her arms are covered up to her elbows in bubbles. A guy next to the speakers turns a knob which makes the music quieter.

"Your boyfriend's here!" The girl with the dark hair giggles and Ellie searches the shop till her eyes meet his. Her face is a fair bit redder than before but she rolls her eyes and scoffs nevertheless.

"He's not my boyfriend, Jen," She says and Jen and a man, whose hair looks as if he'd been dragged through a hedge, share a smirk.

"You're blushing!" Calls a short guy from the aptly named book corner and Ellie's face flushes more.

"Oh shush!" She huff and rolls her eyes at Balthazar who has been watching the exchange with a cross between amusement and sympathy for Ellie.

"Someone's got to make a coffee for the dude," The short guy, whose name tag reads James, points out.

"SHOT NOT!" They all scream, including Matt from the kitchen and an older woman walking in with a wet cloth.

"Really guys?" She complains yet wipes her arms on a towel handed to her by Matt- the bearded man- and makes her way to the machine.

"Go make a coffee for your boyfriend," Says Jen and Ellie pokes her tongue out in response to her friend's teasing.

Balthazar approaches the counter with a small smile and orders another caramel latte (how could he not, they were amazing). Ellie sets to work with the milk and the others get back to their cleaning after turning the music up. The music is soft and the chords are dreamy. Some of the employees, including Ellie, begin to sing the words. Balthazar stands quietly and soaks up the feel. The combination of soft fairy lights, calming music, and the low drone of the coffee machine calm him down.

His calmness is broken when Ellie asks him something. He's a little embarrassed he has to ask her to repeat it but she does without teasing or question. She asks him if he's had a long day at work and he frowns at her curiously. Her reply is stuttered and he only catches "sorry", "same clothes" and "uniform". Balthazar mentally kicks himself for wearing the same outfit he always does. Luckily she'd jumped to conclusions and she didn't think he was a slob. Not that Balthazar would care is she thought he was a slob. Why would he care? That's just silly. They fall into slightly awkward silence and Balthazar is glad for the music in the background.

"So what about you, long day?" He asks trying to charm her again. He's not really surprised when she blatantly ignores the flirting and nods instead.

"Busy tonight?" He tries again and Ellie looks up at him and he can see a tiny bit of surprise in her expression- he's an angel of course he can read expressions. He can read thoughts too but reading minds isn't like in the movies all Balthazar hears is broken sentences (the thought process of humans is far too quick for full sentences) and has to piece things together himself. For some reason he can't quite figure out he can't bring himself to read her mind and it's lucky he can't or that would be the end of their meetings. The surprise is quickly replaced with wariness and a raised eyebrow as she hands him the steaming paper cup.

"Who's asking?" He picks up the cup and smirks at her before taking a thoughtful sip.

"A guy I know. Loves your caramel lattes," He says with a wink and spins around to exit the shop. He doesn't notice Ellie grinning at his back or mouthing things to Jen.

"Bye Balthazar," Calls Ellie and Balthazar waves over his shoulder as he exits the shop. His brain is still just as confused as it was before. She hadn't done anything special and she wasn't really his type, he was more a fan of people in skimpy outfits he'd never see again, and yet Ellie had managed to make herself a little corner in his brain. That's when he sees the edge of a green scribble. He turns the cup around and finds another message. This time it says simply a number. Not a string of numbers one would dial into the phone, just one digit. It's a zero. For a moment Balthazar ponders what this might mean. Is it a code? Maybe it was his score? He honestly has no idea, no one's ever done this before. Humans are strange he decides as he begins to walk, thoughts of Ellie and the mysterious number whirling around his head like a merry-go-round.


	4. Back to Zero- Ellie

**AN: Thanks so much to the people who have followed, favourited or reviewed- it means a lot. I already have some plans for where I want this story to go but feel free to make suggestions. I'd love to hear any feedback or if you pick up on any mistakes! Enjoy! Or don't, you won't offend anyone. Except maybe me but that's ok.**

Ellie

Working at the coffee shop was fun. Sure it was vastly different to her actual career path, which could be stressful and dangerous, but Ellie found the change refreshing. Plus the coffee shop bought her a tonne of job opportunities for the field she was actually trained in. In fact that morning a man had come to her with work and she had phoned her sister Grace immediately to tell her what was happening. They planned to finish off the job once Ellie's shift was over. Interesting things happened at the coffee shop too, she heard all the latest news from tired commuters and college students looking for a burst of energy and met some really cool people. On the topic of really cool people Ellie could not, for the life of her, forget Balthazar. She didn't really know why. He was attractive, yes, but that's about all she knew about him and no way she was going out with someone just because she thought they were attractive. Also he was a bit quick to jump to the conclusion that she would be bowled over by his charm and good looks and adore him straightaway.

She told herself it was because she was curious. She always had been. He also seemed just a little bit dangerous and in her line of work danger was inevitable, and part of the excitement. She wanted to know more about the man in the deep V-neck with the clear blue eyes and bible name. She wanted to know about his family and his job. She wants to know his favourite colour and the music he listens too. And the worst part is she has absolutely no idea why. She scrubs away at the pots letting her frustration do something useful.

Ellie's about halfway through the plates when an old song her dad used to play in the car comes on.

"TURN IT UP!" She hollers and waits for the response.

"Manners!" James yells back and she rolls her eyes.

"Please turn it up!" Somebody To Love comes floating through the kitchen door, progressively getting louder, and Ellie smiles to herself. Soon the employees at the coffee shop are basically running a musical. In the next room Rosemary is sweeping the floor to the tune, James is shelving books while wiggling his hips and Jen is sliding around the room with cloths on her feet. Matt and her join in the song while scrubbing the pots and pans, Mrs Koopeche ever the traditionalist, refuses to buy a dishwasher. The singing from the next room stops and Jen yells something Ellie can't quite make out she can hear the others laughing. She finishes the plate she's on and pokes her head round the door to see if it's anything important.

"Pardon?" She asks and blows a stray curl out of her warm face.

"You boyfriend's here," Jen says in a sing-song voice and behind her Pete is making kissy faces. Ellie searches the shop and her eyes finally find Balthazar's. She can't fight the blush that creeps up but she can definitely still roll her eyes and scoff, which is exactly what she does.

"He's not my boyfriend, Jen," Ellie says exasperatedly and she sees Jen and Pete smirk at each other. Ellie feels like pulling her hair out.

"You're blushing!" Crows James from the book corner and Ellie can feel her face heat up. She glares at James.

"Oh shush!" Her eyes find Balthazar's again and she rolls them much to his amusement.

"Someone's got to make a coffee for the dude," James very helpfully points out. Ellie resists the urge to run and hide in a ball.

"SHOT NOT!" Everyone yells and slaps their hands on their heads to prove they yelled. Unfortunately Ellie catches on far too late and is left standing, slightly bewildered as her friends laugh.

"Really guys?" She complains. So what if she secretly wanted to make a coffee for the attractive mystery that was Balthazar? Matt hands her a towel and she frees her arms of the bubbles and throws it back at him.

"Go make a coffee for your boyfriend," Jen teases and this time Ellie feels the rising blush and pushes it back down, instead poking her tongue out at her friend. She makes her way to the counter, Balthazar on her heels and takes his order. He orders a caramel latte and Ellie fights back a grin. The appearance of Balthazar has managed to make Ellie forget about her stresses in her other line of work, at least for the moment. She sets about making the milk and her friends turn the music back up and the soothing notes of London Grammar bleed through the radio.

In those peaceful moments Ellie lets her worries go and begins to sing the words. The others join in and soon the coffee shop is filled with a harmony of voices and the low drone of the coffee machine. It's only when the song ends that Ellie realises Balthazar is actually standing in front of her somewhat awkwardly. In an attempt to break the awkwardness Ellie asks him if he's had a hard day at work. She really needs to find out where he works and thank his boss immensely for the uniform Balthazar wore, because my god he looked good. When he frowns in response Ellie nearly kicks herself for assuming that was him uniform. She mumbles her apologies and Balthazar makes an odd face. They fall back into the slightly awkward silence and Ellie is thankful for the music playing through the speakers and her friends encouraging thumbs-up.

"So what about you, long day?" Balthazar asks with that same note he had the first time. Ellie refuses to be wooed by a man who clearly never had any trouble with women and steeled her natural reactions- which were to pull him over the counter and snog him. Somehow she figures that wouldn't go down too well. Instead she just nods.

"Busy tonight?" He tries again and Ellie's eye widen. Was he actually asking her out? Oh god what does she do? No wait hang on deep breaths. You are a grown women in a dangerous line of work you can handle a guy asking you out. Does she say yes? What if he's a jerk? She doesn't have to say yes! Besides she's only met him twice. Ellie hands him his caramel latte after quickly scribbling something down.

"Who's asking?" He takes a sip, which is what people generally do with coffee so that's not the part that catches her off-guard. It's the playful smirk and the cheeky twinkle in his eye.

"A guy I know. Loves your caramel lattes," He says with a wink and flashes her his teeth in another cheeky grin. Ellie sighs mentally. Some people are just born with ridiculous amounts of charm. It's even worse when they, like Balthazar, are one hundred percent aware of it. He spins (very much like a Hollywood star) and makes his way to the exit and on then does Ellie let her grin free. _He is upsettingly attractive, _Jen mouths to her and Ellie giggle and wholeheartedly agrees. Balthazar's hand is just hovering above the doorhandle when Ellie calls out.

"Bye Balthazar!" When he's left the shop her friends immediately begin teasing her. Ellie listens with half an ear and tries to figure out why Balthazar is so endearing. He's not really her type she usually goes for people a little closer to her age, if she's even dating- which rarely happens because of work. She's more of a fan of clever men with glasses, not that she knows whether or not Balthazar is clever. Ellie doesn't believe in love at first sight- life is not that easy- and she definitely needs to know more about this man before she starts to obsess over him like she has been the past 24 hours. This time he doesn't stop outside of the shop and Ellie doesn't know if he caught sight of the scribbled number next to the logo but she hoped he did. In a way it was her version of flirting. Ellie leave the coffee shop with no further thought of Balthazar. Honestly why would she lie about thoughts of a man she's met twice chasing each other around her head?


	5. Disappearing Act- Balthazar

**AN: I was in a writing mood so, here, have an uncharacteristicly early update. Pleas tell me if you have an opinion or find a problem. **

**Enjoy. OR ELSE. (Just kidding it's your choice)**

Balthazar

Balthazar's shelf is now home to two brown paper cups scribbled with green writing. A week later there are five. Two weeks later there are eleven and Balthazar finally decides he's developed an unhealthy obsession. Technically he doesn't need to use the coffee shop anymore he could just zap one from nowhere, but there's something about the ambience of the little shop that pulls Balthazar back in again and again and again. He convinces himself it has nothing to do with Ellie and everything to do with the escape it gives him, both of which are true.

One morning he stands in-front of the shelf trying to figure out the riddle written on the cups. He lines them all up in order so he can see what's written on each of them. The first just has a message. The next three just have numbers. The next four have numbers and messages that say things like "Keep trying" and "Maybe I'm just not interested…" with a number underneath. The last two are the weirdest; one has a symbol in a foreign language (Balthazar later discovers it is Delta the Greek number four) and the other has a long mathematical equation. Half an hour later he's decoded the equation and is still trying to figure out what the series of numbers could mean- he's tried coordinates, a code, you name it- when it hits him like a rogue lorry. It's a phone number! He grabs his mobile (angel radio is strictly off-limits) and punches the ten digits in and waits while it rings.

The mechanical voice on the other end of the line tells him it's an invalid number. He checks the cups again. He typed in all ten numbers properly why isn't it- oh. Of course, you need _eleven_ digits for a phone number. Balthazar supposes he'll just have to go back to the coffee shop. He changes his shirt quickly, people don't work on Sundays, and with a soft flutter he's standing outside the coffee shop. He doesn't hesitate on the doorstep anymore; he just opens the door and walks right in. He combs the coffee shop with his eyes and frowns when he can't see Ellie. Jen looks up from behind the counter and her eyebrows furrow when she sees Balthazar.

Balthazar makes his way to the concerned woman, thankfully the coffee shop is very nearly empty, so they can chat without interruption.

"Where's Ellie?" They both ask at the same time then frown in synchronisation.

"I thought she worked here?"

"She does but she didn't show up today. Usually she calls when she's sick but we haven't heard a word," Balthazar fells like he's been punched in the gut and is about to be sick all at the same time. It's a peculiar sensation and he's shocked when he realises what it is. Worry. Balthazar, mighty angel of the Lord, is _worrying _about a human girl. There's almost definitely a first time for everything.

"We tried calling her and her sister but they won't pick up," Jen says and the angel can tell she's worried too, "Look go talk to Matt about it I've got work to do. He's in the back," Jen waves him down a corridor and Balthazar finds Matt angrily slamming his phone shut and running a hand through his hair.

"Mate, have you seen Ellie?" he asks when he catches sight of Balthazar. The angel shakes his head and Matt growls. The worry still hasn't gone away and it's making Balthazar, well, extremely worried.

"She won't pick up her damn phone! Usually she calls and we thought she was with you! What if she's hurt? Actually I'm sure she's fine she's a big girl but oh what if?" Matt continues to mutter worried thoughts under his breath and tug at his hair. For a moment Balthazar has no idea what to do.

"Did you try ringing her sister?" He asks after a few anxious moments and Matt nods.

"Grace isn't picking up either,"

"Grace?"

"Ellie's sister," Matt explains and dials the number again. Not to anyone's surprise no one picks up. Jen's calling from the counter that she needs Matt to get back into the kitchen and start cooking. Matt looks apologetically at the worried angel.

"I'm sorry mate but would you mind trying to get through a couple more times?" he scribbles her number down on Balthazar's hand and dashes out of the break room tying his apron as he goes. Balthazar types the number into his phone and waits anxiously while it rings. He doesn't really know why he's so anxious or worried. He only knows a few things about Ellie from talking to her at the coffee shop; she's one of four kids, loves to read, her favourite colour is green, she chopped of all her hair when she was twelve and she can't stand stereotypes or discrimination. This is actually quite a lot for someone who has never gotten close to a human before, but that's not the point. The point is how had the warrior managed to become so obsessed with this human in the first place. He didn't do 'attached relationships' and never before had someone, much less a human, held his attention for so long. No one picks up the phone and Balthazar immediately hits redial and holds the phone impatiently to his ear. The phone rings once, twice three times and then Ellie's voice comes floating through the speaker.

"Hello who is this?" She sounds exhausted but Balthazar's too glad she's safe to really notice.

"Ellie? It's Balthazar! We've been trying to get through all morning! Are you alright?"

"We?" Now he's calmed down he notes the exhaustion in her voice and frowns a little.

"I came to the coffee shop and your friends hadn't seen you and you didn't call. We sort of worried," Ellie gives a breathy laugh through the phone then sniffs.

"Aww you guys worried! I'm fine I just feel like I've been run over by a lorry then thrown off a cliff. Don't stress it's just the flu. Usually I'd get Gracie to call but she's on a… trip. How'd you get my number anyway I thought you were missing one digit?" She says and Balthazar can practically hear her grinning through the line.

"Matt gave it to me. If you give me half a moment I'll tell the others you're not dead," Balthazar does exactly that and ends up sitting at a table nursing a coffee while Ellie's friends have taken custody of his phone and retreated to the break room. At least it gives Balthazar a chance to think quietly. Ellie had said she had a cold yet her nose didn't sound blocked at all. But she did sniff and she sounded exhausted, too. But her tone was off, like she wasn't telling the truth.

He's still having this internal debate when his phone is handed back to him by James.

"Thanks Balthazar," He says with a knowing smile and Balthazar just brushes it off as strange human habit. Her friends seem to be convinced Ellie's telling the truth and in all honesty they know Ellie far better than him so he drops it and nods to James.

"Not a problem," He pays for the coffee and exits the shop quickly. He's still not one hundred percent sure Ellie was telling the truth but there's probably a perfectly good reason she's keeping secrets and he probably shouldn't pry.

When Balthazar arrives back home he can tell there's someone in his house. Someone who's not supposed to be there. Someone who thinks he's dead.


	6. Disappearing Act- Ellie

**AN: Thanks so much to Lina Trinch who has reviewed every chapter with lovely words. In fact thanks to everyone who has reviewed.**

**So this is actually starting to have a plot further than coffee shop cuteness. There's some of Ellie's history in here too :)**

**So without further ado have an update *throws it in your face* **

**Enjoy your day. Or night. Whatever.**

Ellie

It was twenty to four in the morning and Elijah Green and her twin sister Grace were digging up some evil sod's grave. It was supposed to be just a simple salt and burn and they'd be back on their way to London, however, no one told the network of vengeful ghosts that. Two nights ago they'd 'freed' John Caves and made the silly mistake of assuming that was that. They were halfway back to London when the heard the news on the radio. Someone else in Pontefract had been killed. So Ellie and Grace went back and dug a bit deeper to find not only had John Caves been murdered so had his brother Will and their friend James. They were back at the cemetery to free the other ghosts. That's right Ellie Green is a hunter. Or rather, Ellie Green is a huntress.

"Bugger," Ellie curses as a snowflake landed at her feet. Snow is not the recommended weather condition for putting ghosts to rest. Grace swears loudly.

"This is just _brilliant_. Come one we're almost done," The girls dig quickly and just as the snow starts to get heavier Grace strikes the match and Will Caves goes up in flames. Ellie and Grace huddle closer to the burning bones, thankful for the warmth. Which is a tad sadistic but it's cold and their muscles hurt. The fire burns down and Ellie glances quickly over her shoulder at the empty cemetery. Pontefract cemetery was probably one of the creepiest places on earth, and that's during the daytime. The church has a large cone on top silhouetted by the moonlight (thank god it isn't full moon) and the trees are the spindly and creepy kind right from a horror movie. The chilly wind whispers through the branches making an eerie noise, not to mention the firelight is casting flickering shadows that dance around like demons. If Ellie's job wasn't hunting monsters she would be scared silly. But Ellie wasn't scared silly she was just stiff, tired and flipping freezing.

"I hate ghosts," Grace mutters as she slips into the passenger's seat. Ellie nods in agreement and starts the car. The girls both sigh happily when the heater kicks in. Ellie pulls out of the driveway and they begin their three hour journey back to London. She checks the clock. It's five in the morning. She's going to be late for work. Even better she's going to be late for work after a sleepless night.

"Get some sleep Grace," Ellie says and turns on the radio. Grace mumbles a goodnight and gets comfortable in her seat. Soft rock floats around the pair and the car falls silent save for Ellie's quiet singing and Grace's deep breathing. It's at that time Ellie starts to doubt her decision about flirting with Balthazar. Does she really want to drag an innocent man into her messy life? Why is she even thinking about Balthazar? He has nice eyes. What were did that even come from? But he does though, he has nice hair and a really attractive smile too. Ellie cuts her thoughts of- she's daydreaming about a guy like some lovesick teenager- with a sigh.

Her tired mind flickers from though to thought but somehow still ends up on the topic of Balthazar. This time her brain is conjuring up the thought of his deep rumbling voice in her ear and his smirking lips pressed gently to hers. Her brain has been conjuring up these sorts of situations since the day she met him and Ellie's considering just pulling him over the counter and snogging him to stop her mind from wandering there constantly. Would his lips feel nice? Would he take control? She honestly wants to, almost _needs_ to know these things and she doesn't know _why_. Why does she have an obsession with this man? She barely knows a thing past he has a huge family and lived in France for a little while.

To stops Balthazar invading her thoughts again she watches the white lines on the road flash past repetitively from under her heavy eyelids. Ellie can't take her eyes off them her eyelids are growing heavy and the soft rock bleeding through the speakers adds to her relaxed state. She has to close her eyes- they're so heavy and it'll only be for a second…

"ELLIE!" Grace yells grabbing the wheel before the car swerves into another lane. Ellie jolts up, adrenalin coursing through her body, and grabs the wheel. She slams her foot on the breaks and the tyres squeal as she stops on the side of the road breathing heavily.

"Oh my god, Gracie are you alright?" Ellie says in between gasps. Grace's hands are clenched on the car door so tightly her knuckles are white she takes a shaky breath and nods.

"I'm fine Ellie. That was so close," Ellie takes her sisters hand and they squeeze each other's hands until their breathing has evened out. For all the things the girls have faced one could say a possible car crash shouldn't scare them as much as did. But the thing is Ellie and Gracie only have each other. Their parents were hunters too, hunters who managed to get out of the life without causing any demon attention. Apparently the universe was feeling particularly cruel because when the girls were seventeen their parents died in a car crash, a totally normal car crash involving humans, no demons, no hell. And in many ways that was a thousand times worse. Coming so close to crashing had awoken painful memories. They spent the rest of the journey silently comforting one another.

When Ellie pulls into the car park of Grace's flat they reluctantly let go of each other's hands. She pulls the key out of the ignition and grabs her rounded helmet from the backseat. She walks Grace to the front door and they hug tightly.

"Please drive safely Ellie," Grace asks when they pull back. Ellie smiles tiredly at her.

"Of course I will Gracie. Take care," Ellie drags her tired legs over to the place where she parked her red Vespa. It was their mother's before the accident. Ellie go the Vespa and Grace go their dad's car. She puts on her helmet and goggles and slips into London. Ellie's flat is about twenty minutes from Grace's and by the time she gets home she's thoroughly exhausted and reeks of smoke and old bones, not exactly the best fragrance for work. She's just about to get in the shower when her phone begins to ring.

"Hello who is this?" She asks with a small sigh. All she wants to do is have a shower and sleep.

"Ellie?" A strangely familiar voice asks. The voice is quite deep and has a French lilt Ellie feels like she should know it but her brain is refusing to come up with the name.

"It's Balthazar! We've been trying to get through all morning! Are you alright?" How does Balthazar even know she's missing. The only thing she knows is that Balthazar cannot know she hunts monsters. That's going to ruin any chance of a normal relationship.

"We?"

"I came to the coffee shop and your friends hadn't seen you and you didn't call. We sort of worried," Ellie's face splits into the biggest dopiest grin and a warm fuzzy feeling seeps through her. Even though Balthazar needn't worry about her- she's perfectly capable of handling herself thank you very much- his concern made her heart all fluttery. She tells Balthazar she has the flu, what? It's the first thing she could think of! Then she asks how he got her number she hadn't given him the last digit yet. He tells her Matt gave it to him and he's just going to tell the other when suddenly Jen is on the line.

"Ellie! Oh good. We were worried. Your boyfriend is adorable he was worried and everything! You're on speaker," Jen giggles form the end and Ellie rolls her eyes.

"Not my boyfriend," She's not even finished the sentence before James is on the line.

"Your boyfriend's here Ellie. Careful he's kinda my type!" James teases and Ellie rolls her eyes but grins anyway.

"Oh please you'd never cheat on Oliver!"

"Yeah that's true. Oh we should go on a double date I'll take Oliver and you can ask Balthazar out!" Ellie's blushing now and she's thankful they can't see her through the phone.

"It's so obvious you like him, girl just get a move on! He's totally fit!" Alice exclaims and Ellie's surprised because Alice is usually the sensible one.

"Look I just need to take a shower and got to sleep, guys. I'll see you tomorrow," When the phone line finally goes dead Ellie gets in the shower. And if she smiles like an idiot until she falls asleep, well, that's her business.


	7. It's a Surprise- Balthazar

**AN: Sorry this took forever my internet is dead :( Please enjoy!**

Balthazar

Balthazar cannot figure out what the big deal about these Winchester boys is. He could understand it when they were Michael and Lucifer's true vessels- obviously people would want to kill them – what he can't figure out is Castiel's blatant worshipping of the brothers, especially the older one. If Balthazar didn't know better he'd say his old friend had fallen in love. But that's absurd because Dean is a _human_ and Cas is an all-powerful angel of the lord. Humans and angels don't fall in love, it just doesn't happen, it's animalistic and, in the eyes of most angels, essentially bestiality. He refuses to acknowledge the small voice in the back of his head that reminds him of his fascination with a certain human.

Cas and his human friends had visited and forced him to return the human boy's soul. He would have been stuck in a ring of Holy Fire forever had it not been for an old debt. The unfortunate thing is the Winchesters and Castiel both know he's alive and he'd be naïve to think it'd stay between the three of them. The angel looks distastefully at the glass in his hand. He is not nearly intoxicated enough to think about the consequences of his actions. Hopefully Balthazar will never have to see those brothers again, however he highly doubts the universe is fond enough of him to grant that wish.

Before he even knows what he's doing Balthazar snaps his fingers and is standing in front of the coffee shop. He doesn't stop to think- just pushes open the door and walks in. As usual soft music is playing and mixed with the clinking of China, quiet murmuring and the low thrum of the coffee machine it makes for a soothing noise. The soft glow of the lights is a nice change from the harsh glare of Holy Fire, Balthazar decides. James grins at him as he approaches the counter.

"Hey Balthazar, the usual?" Balthazar absentmindedly nods and hands the cash over to James, he's too busy looking for Ellie. He finds her standing in the corner giggling at something the Asian girl, Alice, has said. Little curls have come loose from her braid swinging about as her shoulders shake with laughter. Alice notices his staring and nudges Ellie who smacks her on the arm and meets Balthazar's gaze with a little smile. After a moment she turns back to the shelf and continues placing books on it. Alice practically skips over and whispers something to James, who smirks and repeats it to Matt. Balthazar would have noticed this if he wasn't too busy watching Ellie stand on her tip-toes to put a book on a high shelf with a fond smile. He feels kind of ridiculous- he's not even checking out her bum he's just watching her hair sway and calf muscles tighten. Which he supposes is a little bit stalker-ish and definitely creepy.

"You should ask her out," Matt says, effectively breaking Balthazar's trance, from behind the coffee machine.

"I should, ask- what?" Balthazar stutters as though he's been caught unawares. Which he has.

"Seriously mate, I don't know if you've noticed but she's kind of clueless," James adds and Balthazar's not sure if the caught the whole phone-number-on-the-coffee-cups thing because if you asked him that was adequately clue-full.

"I know what you're thinking but the number on the cups thing, totally my idea," Jen adds as she walks past balancing a hot chocolate and a baby chino on one arm and a cheesecake on the other. Alice makes her way back over from her position next to Ellie.

"She's definitely interested," She says with a smirk and Balthazar is confused as to why half the world had made his love-life their personal responsibility, "She's just hopeless when it comes to the romance department,"

Balthazar is standing there his mouth opening and closing as if he's a fish-out-of-water. Frankly it's embarrassing to be left wordless by some strangers. Well they're not really strangers, over the past few weeks Balthazar thought he'd gotten to know all them quite well, apparently not.

"Just chat her up, talk nicely give her respect and don't even think about hurting her or you'll have me to answer to," James says as he shoves two coffees into Balthazar's hands.

"Go give one to Ellie and for heaven's sake ask her out," Matt says and Balthazar resists the urge to cringe at the mention of his home. Even if heaven weren't too busy with a civil war he highly doubted they would care whether he asked Ellie out or not. Alice turns him around and gives him a gentle shove in Ellie's direction. Balthazar stands still and blinks, once, twice and then with a burst of confidence saunters in the direction of the book corner.

"Oh hey Balthazar," Ellie says jumping down from the ladder to grab her coffee from him. His stomach absolutely did not flip when their fingers brushed, he's an angel of the Lord, Holy Warrior, not some teenager. Fine maybe he did feel a spark but that's irrelevant, it was probably just static electricity. Ellie's face morphs into a concerned frown.

"Are you alright? You look exhausted," She adds and her green eyes inspect his face then dart back up to meet his. Balthazar doesn't know what to say all he can hope is that he doesn't look half as exhausted as he feels. How had she managed to read him so well?

"I'm just a little stressed, my family are…fighting," He says. He wasn't lying he just neglected to mention that 'fighting' meant literal war and thousands of his brothers and sisters are dying. Ellie looks at him sympathetically.

"That's rubbish. Do you want to talk about it?" Ellie looks genuinely concerned but Balthazar can't bring himself to talk about the mess his family is in. He shakes his head and Ellie nods.

"Seeing as you're here you can help me shelf these," She says and points to a large stack of books in various conditions. For a while the pair drink their coffees and shelf books in comfortable silence. It's then that Balthazar is finally brave enough to explore what oddity he has become. The first thing he tackles is his sudden observation of details. Balthazar could tell you the exact shade of green Ellie's eyes were and depending on the time of day how many curls would be escaping around her face. He also finds himself less obligated to hate humans the more time he spends in the quaint little coffee shop. Balthazar often finds his mind drifting to imaginary places where he and Ellie are together talking nonsense and thinking about the future. With these good thoughts also come worries. What if she finds out who he really is?

Balthazar is still deep in thought when Ellie puts the last book on the shelf. By then everyone has slowly trickled out of the shop and the others have begun cleaning. Ellie and Balthazar turn to each other at the same time.

"Are you busy tomorrow night?" They ask at the same and for an awkward moment they stare at each other. Then Ellie starts to laugh her laugh is infectious and Balthazar can't help but chuckle too.

"My shift ends at seven if that's not too late for you," She says when her giggles have subsided. Balthazar is aware he's grinning like an idiot now but he doesn't care.

"So long as you won't be tired," He says with a grin and Ellie smiles back. Some part of his brain stores away the fact that he wants to make her smile like that all the time.

"Of course not,"

"I'll see you at seven tomorrow then," He says with a grin and turns to leave before he can make a fool of himself.

"Hang on! Where are we going?" Ellie calls as he's halfway to the door. Balthazar turns around and smirks at Ellie, his charm mode on full.

"It's a surprise," He winks and keeps walking. Just before the door he turns around again.

"I'll be seeing you tomorrow Elijah, good evening,"


	8. It's A Surprise- Ellie

**AN: I'm going to be missing for a bit so here have these updates in a row! Please share your thoughts! Lit's of things happening now! Enjoy!**

Ellie

There had been much fuss when Ellie returned to work the next day. After assuring everyone she was fine and fit as a fiddle everything went back to normal. Well, almost normal; something wasn't quite right about her friends. She kept finding them whispering to each other and acting oblivious whenever she asked what was going on. Eventually she'd got fed up of their secret business and isolated herself in the book corner with control over the music. She didn't really mind being on her own it gave her the opportunity to think. So what if ninety-five percent of her 'thinking' was daydreaming about Balthazar? If Ellie was totally honest with herself she's admit her fascination with Balthazar was almost pathetic, she was pining like some lovesick teenager. But for now she was content imagining them laughing in an open field under the stars, or cuddled together watching a movie, or eating ice-cream while walking through Hyde Park, or- you get the idea.

Ellie pauses in her imagining when she finds a book she hasn't seen for years. Memories of huddling under the covers with Grace, and taking turns reading aloud when they thought their parents were asleep come flooding back and Ellie smiles sadly at the happy memories. How she misses the old days when her and Grace were normal kids with a mum and a dad. She can't help but open the worn cover and begin to read the book. She's about halfway through the first chapter when she can't focus from the tears threatening to spill out of her eyes. She wipes them away quickly and places the book carefully on one of the higher shelves. She feels a hand on her shoulder and turns to find Alice. The small Asian girl looks at her seriously.

"What's the matter Ellie?" She asks and Ellie shakes her head.

"I just found a book that bought back old memories," She says quietly and Alice pulls her into a hug.

"I know something that will cheer you up!" She exclaims when they pull away and Ellie raises an eyebrow at her friend mischievous expression.

"Should I be worried?" She asks and Alice laughs.

"Who's the fittest bloke you know?" Alice quizzes, dead set serious and Ellie smiles bashfully.

"Balthazar," She answers and her face flushes.

"I knew it! You're totally in love with the sexy blazer dude with the bible name!" Alice crows and Ellie can't hold back the fit of giggles trying to break free. The pair laugh together and Ellie's glad Alice know just how to cheer her up. Alice nudges her on the arm and nods in the direction of the counter.

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear," Alice says then smirks, "You know they say the devil's supposed to be sexy to lure you in, you probably don't even care that he's the dev," Ellie cuts her friend of with a playful slap. She meets Balthazar's gaze and smiles a little she distractedly says goodbye to Alice eyes still on Balthazar's. He smiles back and Ellie has to turn away and continue shelving books so her face doesn't catch fire from blushing so hard.

"You should ask him out," Alice says and Ellie jumps nearly a foot in the air.

"I, should do, ask- who?" Ellie stutters and Alice raises and eyebrow.

"Balthazar, silly, who else? James and Matt say he's interested," Alice says matter-of-factly and looks at Ellie like she wants her to just waltz over and ask him now. Ellie shakes her head.

"Have you guys seriously been trying to get us together?" Ellie asks and suddenly all the whispering makes sense.

"Of course! You two are adorable, and let's face it you are oblivious, Ellie," Ellie gasps as if she's offended and Alice rolls her eyes.

"When did my love-life become everybody's business?"

"Since you're hopeless and Balthazar is one you can't let slip past," Alice says with a shrug, "Now when he comes over here you're going to woman up and ask him if he's busy tomorrow night ok?"

"Alice I can't just- I barely know him!"

"That's what the dates are for- get to know him then!" Alice says in a sing song voice and wanders back towards the counter where her friends are most likely embarrassing Balthazar. It's not like she doesn't find him good-looking, she really does, and it's not that he's boring either, there's nothing more Ellie would like to do than figure out the puzzle that is Balthazar. It's a bit more like she's a huntress and what if she puts an innocent person in harm's way? What if he finds out she hunts monsters in the night? She hears a soft cough and find Balthazar standing awkwardly with two caramel lattes. With a brave smile she jumps down from the step ladder.

"Oh hey Balthazar," She says like she hasn't been thinking about him all day. He hands her a coffee and Ellie's stomach flips when their fingers brush. Oh god she's actually turned into a teenage girl. When she catches sight of his face Ellie frowns.

"Are you alright? You look exhausted," She says and it's true. Balthazar looks like he hasn't slept in days. He's got dark circles under his eyes, his hair is unusually ruffled (Not that Ellie finds it even more attractive. Not at all) and his forehead is wrinkled with worry lines that usually aren't present. Her eyes find his shocking blue ones and she can see some sort of tired weariness floating around. She can also see something ancient and sad swirling through the blue but she blinks and it disappears.

"I'm just a little stressed, my family are…fighting," Ellie decides to not dwell on the pause and instead wonders if Balthazar is alright.

"That's rubbish. Do you want to talk about it?" Balthazar shakes his head and Ellie nods. She's not going to push him, instead she asks for help with the books. The two move about each other, putting books on the shelf in companionable silence, occasionally stopping to take a sip of coffee. Ellie hums along to the music and tries her best not to ogle at Balthazar. But when she's not watching the way his back muscles stretch and slide as he reaches for a high shelf she can smell him. He smells of spice and oddly smoke, not stifling cigarette smoke, more like smoke from a bonfire. She definitely can't concentrate when he accidentally bumps into her or stands close and she can feel his body heat on her skin. He seems to burn hotter than most people (not that Ellie measures people's body heat, it's just hard to ignore when someone's pressed against you) and she can't help but think how nice cuddling with him would be.

Ellie's too busy thinking about cuddling Balthazar to notice she's picked up the last book until she turns back to the pile to find no more. Everyone has left the shop and Jen and James have begun wiping down the tables. Alice makes eye contact jerks her head in Balthazar's direction with a thumbs up. Ellie turns back to Balthazar just has he turns to look at her.

"Are you busy tomorrow night?" They ask in unison and for a moment the air is thick with awkwardness. The more Ellie thinks about it the funnier it gets. Soon she's laughing and Balthazar is chuckling lowly near her ear, which doesn't send a shiver up her spine, nope, not at all. She tells him her shift ends at seven and he grins widely and tells her he'll be here to pick her up at seven then. He turns to leave and Ellie is confused.

"Hang on! Where are we going?" Balthazar turns back with a _very_ handsome grin on his face and Ellie almost blushes.

"It's a surprise," He says with a wink and Ellie actually does blush. He turns and leaves with a final goodbye at the door. Once she's sure he's out of sight Ellie jumps up and down and lets out an uncharacteristically girly squeal. When she's calmed down a little her friends are all standing there with matching grins on their face and Ellie can tell she's in for some teasing. But she doesn't care, she's going on a date with Balthazar!


	9. Hold Me Tight- Balthazar

**AN: So I'm really sorry if the last chapters were a bit dodgy- my internet is fixed now! Anyone else's life really busy at the moment? I have so much going on! **

**This chapter is almost twice as long as usual and filled with some fluff that nearly made my teeth rot whilst writing- you have been warned. **

**It might be ages till the next update, I'm not entirely sure where to go with this or if anyone's reading it, so don't be alarmed if I stop writing...**

**I'd love to her thoughts, ideas, comments, random questions- whatever you like. **

**Enjoy, I bid you adieu!**

**PS Just in case anyone's feeling down, stressed, tired etc HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY/NIGHT/WEEK etc EVERYTHING WILL WORK OUT!**

Balthazar

Balthazar was having a wardrobe crisis. He found himself thinking, for the hundredth time since this whole predicament had begun, how pathetic he had become. He's a warrior; a mighty angel of the Lord and he can't decide what trousers to wear. To be fair it really was a very hard choice; should he could wear jeans but possibly look underdressed or he could wear dress pants and look as if he's trying far too hard. After another few minutes of silent debate he settled for the jeans and put them on manually, something he hadn't done in ages. Something else Balthazar hadn't done in ages was had any romantic attachment past the occasional one-night-stand. And when he says ages he literally means ages, the last person he dated was a girl way back in the Middle Ages when he still resided in Heaven. His courting skills are, to say the least, a little bit rusty.

When he'd flown back home yesterday night Balthazar had realised he actually had no idea where to take Ellie. He didn't even know what sorts of things she liked to do! A full-on fancy dinner was a bit extreme for a first date and he didn't want to scare Ellie off. Balthazar had distractedly gone about his important runaway angel business constantly brainstorming ideas of where they could go. Things would have been much easier if Ellie knew he was an angel for then he could just fly them anywhere around the world, but Ellie doesn't know he's an angel and Balthazar's planning on keeping it that way. It'd had taken nearly twenty hours, and honestly far too much planning to be considered healthy, but he had eventually decided to go for a walk around London.

Just as he was going through the plan in his head Balthazar realised he hadn't told Ellie she would need something warm to wear. It was still the middle of winter and the London air would be cold, especially for humans. Balthazar retrieves his phone from the side bench and scrolls through his contacts until he reached Ellie's number, he may or may not have accidentally memorised it the day she was missing. And of course he still has the old paper cups sitting on his shelf, he had developed a strange sentimental attachment to them.

_Hey Ellie  
Make sure you have something warm to wear tonight,  
Balthazar_

It had taken him far longer than usual to write the text because he had typed 'xoxo' and then deleted it about four times before hitting send. It doesn't take Ellie long to respond.

_Why, where are you taking me?_

Balthazar smiles to himself when he reads the message.

_That's for me to know and you to find out, my dear_

He hits send before he even realises that he's flirting over the phone. Ellie's response comes quickly.

_Will I need anything else, sir?_

Balthazar rolls his eyes at that. He's way too old to be called sir. It's at this point Balthazar realises just how large the age difference between the two is. He's not positive of Ellie's age but she looks about ten years younger than his vessel which probably already made people a bit sceptical of them, if only they knew how old Balthazar really was.

_No_

Ellie's reply is almost instantly this time.

_It took you two minutes to type 'no'? _

Balthazar checks the time between messages and sure enough he had accidentally stopped functioning for two minutes.

_Sorry, I was thinking._

_About what?_

She replies and Balthazar isn't sure if she means that in an inappropriate way or not. He thinks it's probably a little too early in their relationship for her to be interpreting things he says in a rude way and decides she's probably just curious.

_Don't you have work to be doing, darling?_

He snorts when he sees Ellie's reply.

_Fine avoid the question! Yes I do actually Jen is yelling at me from the kitchen. This is all your fault. See you tonight, darling. _

_Farewell my lady._

He hits send and put his phone back on the bench a huge grin on his face. He'd be fibbing if he said he wasn't excited about tonight. Excited was an understatement really, he was already dressed and the date wasn't for another two hours.

Half an hour later finds an uncharacteristically anxious Balthazar. What is Ellie decided she hates him? What of he says something stupid? What is he puts her in danger? What if and so on.

Half an hour after that Balthazar is seriously considering calling Ellie and cancelling.

Forty five minutes after that Balthazar is checking his reflection once more and then flying to London. He lands just around the corner of the coffee shop and takes a few deep breaths before rounding the corner and entering the coffee shop. When he gets inside Balthazar finds a woman who looks much like Ellie sitting on a table waiting for him. She has the same copper hair Ellie does, although hers is pin straight, but her eyes are brown rather than green and she has far less freckles. After a moment of think Balthazar decides this must be Grace, Ellie's sister. She hops off the table when he enters and approaches him with a fierce expression.

"Ellie's dad isn't here to threaten but I am and if you hurt her," She says but Balthazar cuts her off.

"I know you lot will kill me, trust me the last thing I want to do is hurt her," Grace grins at him.

"I was actually going to say she'll kill you but we'll definitely help isn't that right guys?" Ellie's friends that are present nod seriously and a slightly stumped Balthazar looks back at Grace who's still grinning.

"Hi I'm Grace, you must be Balthazar," Grace sticks out her hand and Balthazar shakes it.

"Gracie are you scaring Balthazar?" Ellie says and soon she appears at the doorway to the kitchen. She's wearing a leather jacket over jeans and a purple shirt, on her feet are long leather boots. She's not even that dressed up and Balthazar can't help but think she looks beautiful. When he says this aloud Ellie blushes and Grace smiles gently.

"Have fun El," She says and Balthazar suddenly finds himself caught between one of those unspoken conversations siblings often have. He can't tell what they're saying to each other but he daren't interrupt. After a few awkward moments Ellie bursts into giggles and Grace is grinning once again.

"Thanks for the lift Gracie!" Ellie calls as her sister leaves the coffee shop. She looks at Balthazar with a shy smile. Balthazar smiles back and then bows dramatically.

"My lady are you ready to set off?" Ellie laughs at his antics then checks her watch.

"My shift technically isn't over for another ten minutes, you're a little early, good sir," Balthazar nods.

"That's fine then," He's cut off by a dramatically loud sigh from behind the counter. He starts at the sound for Balthazar had almost forgotten there were other people still in the coffee shop.

"Fine take her early and stop your nagging," Alice says as if he's been waiting here for hours and was starting to annoy her. Balthazar opens his mouth to indignantly protest when he realises she's joking. Ellie pokes her tongue out at her friends and they leave the shop with yelled farewells and one catcall with was answered with another tongue poke-out.

When the pair have rounded the corner Ellie looks Balthazar with an expression like a child on Christmas morning. She's smiling widely and Balthazar's heart doesn't skip a beat and he doesn't get butterflies or weak knees. He is, however, hit with the sudden realisation that he wants to see Ellie smiling so excitedly every day, even better, he wants to be the reason she smiles so brightly. All Balthazar can do is smile back and the two walk in silence for a few moments before Ellie makes a thoughtful noise.

"Do you want to play twenty questions?" She asks and Balthazar has to check if she's actually being serious. He's never played twenty questions before. Ellie is being totally serious so Balthazar nods, why not?

"Favourite colour?" Ellie asks and Balthazar frowns. His favourite colour is when the sun starts to set and angel's wings begin to glow an iridescent swirl of colours humans cannot see.

"Opal," It's the only thing he can think of that comes even close to his favourite colour, "What about you?" Ellie thinks for a moment before answering 'green'. Nineteen questions later the pair are sitting on a random bench in the Heart of London laughing.

"I can't believe you told him that! Did he believe you?" Ellie asks when she's stopped laughing. Balthazar nods. Ellie grins at him and Balthazar smiles back. A little curl of hair has fallen from her braid and Balthazar reaches out his hand and tucks it behind her ear. He loses himself in her pretty green eyes, which is totally cliché and Balthazar doesn't even care. They stay like that for a moment; Balthazar's hand still resting on the side of Ellie's head, blushes creeping up their necks, until Ellie's eye widen in an alarming mixture of shock and recognition.

"Sorry I just thought I saw, actually never-mind," She says quietly and Balthazar draws his hand back slowly. They sit in awkward silence and Balthazar curses mentally, because dammit he'd moved too quickly. Angel courting is much different to that of humans. There is none of the painstaking dancing around one another or the slow dating process; it was a matter of speed, all you have to do was look at an angel's wings. Wing reactions to attraction vary greatly- some angel's wings glow, some get highlights of bright colours, other's feathers tremble and some do both, or all three. Even if it takes you awhile to figure out the attraction signs for the particular angel it's far quicker than any form of dating. Their vessels, however, react to sexual attraction the same way they would if they weren't inhabited by an angel and as Balthazar has recently found out can also blush. Ellie's shoulder playfully bumps his and Balthazar snaps his eyes back to hers.

"Are you alright? How are things with your family?" She asks softly and she looks so genuinely concerned and caring Balthazar vomits up word after word, not thinking about consequences.

"I suppose it all started when Lucifer, my older brother, got into a fight with dad. Dad made Michael, another older brother, kick Lucifer out and no one had seen him for ages. Trouble is then dad went missing- we rarely saw him- and Michael and Raphael, another older brother, were always arguing which upset Gabriel, youngest if the oldest four, so he ran away. Dad was gone for ages and no one had heard from Gabe or Luci in ages. The rest of us had to cope without Dad while Michael and Raphael tried to keep the peace," Ellie looks confused and sympathetic at the same time.

"How many siblings do you have?" She asks in wonder.

"Michael's the oldest, then Lucifer, the Raphael, then Gabriel, then Anna, then me and then Castiel. We had loads of distant and closer relatives in the same town too," Ellie's nodding and Balthazar can practically see her brain working.

"I didn't mean to interrupt, keep going," She says after a moment and nudges him with her shoulder again.

"Then there were these brothers. Cas helped the older one and he won't admit it but he's totally crushing on him. Then the trouble was none if the others really like the brothers so Uriel and Zachariah tried to get them away from Cas," Balthazar's eyes have glazed over and Ellie takes his hand and squeezes gently.

"Then Gabriel and Lucifer came back, they both had it in for those brothers. Lucifer messed with the younger one to annoy the older one and Gabriel messed with the older one to annoy the younger one. Then of course Gabriel accidentally went and got a crush on the younger brother and betrayed Lucifer so now both of them have gone missing again and everyone back home is fighting worse than ever," Balthazar finishes quietly. He can feel his eyes brimming with threatening tears so he stares straight ahead. Ellie, however, is not fooled by any of his nonsense and turns his head to look at her.

"I'm sorry, Balthazar," She says and Balthazar cannot believe he's being comforted by some human who doesn't even know the whole story- she has no idea how many of his brothers and sisters have fallen in battle and yet somehow, she does. She doesn't even know him well and she's willing to sit here and comfort him. One hand rubs large circles on his back and the other one stays on the back of his neck as she leans in and hugs him. For a moment Balthazar is still and then he wraps his arms around her and rests his head on hers. He doesn't know how long they stay there, in the winter wind, just holding each other, seconds, minutes, hours, and he doesn't really care. It's been a long time since he could properly talk to someone, even if it was some girl he met in a coffee shop. When Ellie pulls away she smiles softly at him and latches her hand onto his with a little squeeze which Balthazar returns, also with a small smile. They stand up together and begin to wander down the path. Night-time London is beautiful. Everywhere is strung with fairy lights and lanterns that sway slightly in the breeze. Speaking of breeze next to him Ellie shivers slightly and Balthazar frowns, is it really that cold-oh. Of course humans' internal body temperatures are far lower than angels, who generally burn quite hot. Balthazar tugs on her hand and pulls her close to his side, so they're walking as one. When Ellie looks up at him in question Balthazar shrugs.

"You seemed cold," Ellie lets out a little giggle at this and wraps her arm around Balthazar's waist.

"I'm not now," She says and there's that wonderful smile full of content and excitement again.

They walk, stuck together like that, all the way back to Ellie's house. When they reach the front door Balthazar reluctantly releases Ellie.

"Thank you Balthazar," She says and leans up her cold lips pressing against his cheek.

"If you want to talk about it, just tell me ok?" This time her cold lips are pressed to his forehead. Had anyone else done that Balthazar would be appalled, who were they to treat an angel like a child with a grazed knee? But it was Ellie and she wasn't trying to demean him, she was just trying to help and that was adorable. Balthazar squeezes her hands one last time- he's far too nervous to be as forward as kiss her, even if he's been thinking about it for weeks- and begins his walk. Once he's out of view Balthazar snaps his fingers and is home. He straightens he coffee cups on his shelf with a huge grin.


	10. Hold Me Tight- Ellie

**AN: This will only take a moment but I'll sum it up if you can't be bothered to read it all- yay, writing again, thanks, you're awesome, enjoy.**

**So it's been around three and a half weeks, I think, since my last update and for that I am truly sorry. My life was crazy busy and I hit a writing block, then it was Easter (Hope those who celebrate Easter had a wonderful day) and then I had the flu. I am happy to announce *Austin Powers voice* I got my mojo back, baby!**

**While I'm here I just want to thank everybody who has reviewed my story. Thanks guys, your support and kind words are really motivating. I'd like to extend that thanks to anyone who has favourited, followed and read this story- you guys rock. **

**So we're finally getting there with this plot and some stuff is happening- ahem first date! Please enjoy!**

Elijah Green would be lying if she said she wasn't looking forward to her date with Balthazar. It had been on her mind since the second he asked her and Ellie is _almost_ embarrassed at her childish excitement but then she remembers everyone deserves to be happy and continues grinning like a dork. When she'd got home the previous night she'd called Grace to inform her, gushing and giggling. Grace had given her the usual warning speech and told her to take her gun and Ellie had rolled her eyes but promised she would anyway. Then Grace had lightened up, made a slightly inappropriate joke and told her she deserved this sort of break.

Around midday Jen had bumped her hip with hers and started the flipping Spanish inquisition while they took orders and made coffees.

"Are you excited? Silly question of course you are! Can I do your hair? Ooh where are you going? How on Earth did you get the most attractive man to ask you out? How old is he? Please tell me you're not agreeing to this because he's paying you? What are you going to wear?!" Jen asks without taking a breath and Ellie rolls her eyes and answers the last question.

"Um I thought I'd just go in this?" Ellie looks down at her white shirt and navy skirt. Jen does too and wrinkles her nose.

"Hell no!"

"What's wrong with my clothes?!" Ellie exclaims half mocking half serious. They have to pause their conversation when a customer approaches the counter. Ellie takes his order with a smile then turns to Jen.

"Well, go on! What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Ellie asks this time a little quieter. Jess sighs.

"Nothing they're just work clothes. Surely you'll feel nicer in clean clothes," Ellie hadn't thought about that. It's not like her clothes are terribly uncomfortable, they're quite the opposite.

"Nah not really," She says with a shrug and Jen rolls her eyes and hold up a finger while she yells for 'Lachlan' who she hands the coffee to, before turning back to Ellie with a smirk. Before Ellie can protest Jen grabs Alice by the elbow and gestures to Ellie.

"Please help me talk some sense into this girl! Can she wear these on a date?" Jen cries over dramatically and Ellie rolls her eyes. At least Alice will sort Jen out. Ellie and Jen were quite surprised when Alice whipped her phone out , snapped a photo and typed for a moment before returning the electronic device to her pocket. Alice then tells the pair to get back to work and ignores any questions about what just happened.

They find out, three hours later, when Alice shoves her phone in Ellie's direction. Turns out Alice had sent the photo to Grace asking is what she was wearing was acceptable. Grace's reply was

_No way! Tell her I'll bring some clothes over on my way back from work, thanks Alice!_

Ellie rolls her eyes. It's just one date and besides since when was it everyone's business what she wore? As if he was reading her mind James appeared next to her.

"We got you two together sweetheart let us have some fun! Besides we're just helping," He pats her bum and wanders off. The next three hours at the shop were busy but that was normal. At half four George had wandered in and handed Jen a rock. It was sweet to see Jen, who liked to pretend all she cared about was sleeping with people and being pretty, talking to the homeless man like he was an old friend. At five a large group of University students wandered complaining about an annoying Professor. Turns out Gavin, who only worked on weekends, had decided to bring his friends to the shop. At half five a tired looking mum wandered in with a four year old who was curious about the coffee machine. Matt took the little girls hand and showed her how it worked. Ellie was so busy making coffee, taking orders rearranging books and chatting to friendly customers she nearly forgot about her date. She remembered when her sister wandered through the door and quarter past six.

"Hey Gracie, how was work?" Ellie asks when she spots her sister. Before Grace can reply Jen butts in.

"Oh thank god you're here Grace! She was going to go on a date in this!" Ellie rolls her eyes.

"I don't see what the big deal is!" Ellie says slightly annoyed. Half an hour later, after Ellie has finished wiping down and after she's helped sweep, after Grace has pulled her aside and pointed out that in her current clothes she'd be freezing and there was nowhere for her to hide any weapons if Balthazar was actually a monster or demon and after Ellie's changed into warmer clothes, strapped on her gun, slipped a knife in her boot and stored a vial of holy water in her pocket she hears the tinkle of the doorbell. Grace is the one who greet s Balthazar and Ellie rolls her eyes when Grace starts threatening him. She double checks everything and looks in the mirror.

"He's here, Ellie he looks damn fine, bet he's good in bed too!" Jen says from the doorway. Ellie slips her jacket on deliberately whacking Jen with one of the arms, as she walks past and into the main part of the shop. Jen just giggles.

"Gracie are you scaring Balthazar?" Ellie asks, a little bit worried about what exactly her sister had been telling Balthazar.

"You look beautiful," Balthazar says softly and Ellie can't stop the pink that crawls up her cheeks, especially when she catches sight of Gracie's smirk.

"Have fun El," Grace says, but her eyes are telling Ellie to be careful and to stay safe. Once she's sure Ellie's got the message Grace then makes a very inappropriate comment, with her eyes of course, that makes them both burst into giggles.

"Thanks for the lift Gracie," Ellie calls to her sister as she leaves. Grace had driven her in this morning so she wouldn't have to leave her scooter at the café overnight. Ellie's stomach is full of butterflies as she smiles shyly at Balthazar. He dramatically bows.

"My lady, are you ready to set off?" He asks and Ellie giggles at his antics. After checking her watch she informs him technically her shift isn't over yet.

"That's fine," Balthazar is interrupted by a loud over dramatic sigh that could only have come from Alice.

"Fine take her early and stop your nagging," She says like Ellie's been whinging for ages about leaving. Despite the fact that Ellie pokes her tongue out at her friend she really is grateful and makes a mental note to do some extra clean-up tomorrow.

"Bye guys, see you all tomorrow!" Ellie says with a quick wave to her friends behind the counter. James has the nerve to catcall and while Ellie knows he's only joking he's going to be getting a bit more than a tongue poked in his direction later. Ellie tries to keep her excitement in check but once they've rounded the corner she can't hold back and smiles at Balthazar. He smiles back and Ellie's heart doesn't skip a beat or two, that's called cardiac arrest, but she does want to see Balthazar smile like that again. He looks so care-free and innocent and gee it's nice to be with someone normal, someone who doesn't want to kill her or suck her blood, and someone she doesn't have to hunt down. They walk together a few more paces before Ellie's stupid brain decides to panic. She doesn't know where she's going. What if Balthazar was a werewolf? Or a vamp or some demon sent to kidnap her? She doesn't know anything about him for all she knows he- Ellie stops her panicked thoughts with a firm shake of her head. No way are they ruining this. She did have a point though, some bonding with Balthazar is overdue, so Ellie does the first thing she can think of. Which so happens to be initiating a game of twenty questions.

"Favourite colour?" She starts off. Balthazar's eye glaze over and for a second he looks wistful, then thoughtful like he's trying to translate something. Ellie realises that English might not even be his first language, and wow she really doesn't know much about him.

"Opal, what about you?" Ellie's a little bit surprised at his answer. In all her life no one has ever told her their favourite colour was opal and Balthazar of all people, Ellie vows one day she'd get an explanation as to why his favourite colour is opal.

"Green," She says without thinking because that's been her default answer for years. When she was young she refused to say 'pink' or 'blue' as it often led to conversations riddled with gender stereotypes that Ellie didn't care for much. In all honesty since her parents death Ellie hasn't really thought of something so simple as her favourite colour and she makes another mental note to re-evaluate that. Then she adds, "Repeating my question doesn't count, your go," Slowly the questions evolve from basic things like 'favourite food' to 'what embarrasses you' sorts of questions. Around halfway through their game Ellie frowns up at Balthazar.

"Are we actually going somewhere?" She asks and Balthazar shakes his head.

"No, I thought a walk might be nice. You don't mind do you?" Balthazar looks worried and Ellie hides her smile. She doesn't say that she'd be happy to just sit on a bench so long as she was with him and instead settles for something far less clingy.

"No of course not! Can you speak any other languages?" It turns out English isn't Balthazar's first language and he can actually speak loads of other languages, which Ellie really admires. She's tempted to say she can speak Latin but that's not really a normal thing for a twenty-three year old working in a coffee shop to be able to do.

Eventually they do end up sitting on a bench, Ellie would've smiled at the coincidence if she wasn't too busy laughing at Balthazar's story.

"I can't believe you told him that! Did he believe you?" She says in between giggles and Balthazar nods. Ellie stops laughing when Balthazar's hand reaches up to tuck a curl behind her ear. Her eyes find his and she nearly drowns in ocean swirling around his pupils. His hand is warm on the side of her neck but Ellie doesn't notice she's too busy searching Balthazar's eyes. His eyes are twinkling with mirth, which Ellie takes a good sign, but there's something else, that same sadness she saw the last time she looked, and-oh. No way, that's not possible. Balthazar's eyes glow with something ancient as if he's been around since the beginning of time. The only other person she's seen it on was that angel, years and years ago, the one who delivered the message. But it can't be! That's ridiculous, he's just Balthazar, he's a human! She shakes her head slightly and apologises to Balthazar who pulls his hand back slowly. The silence is deafening and, well, awkward, so awkward it's nearly painful. Ellie's heart sinks she's just ruined it, they were having such a nice moment dammit! In an attempt to save the quickly shattering moment Ellie nudges Balthazar.

"Are you alright? How are things with your family?" She asks and then realises what a stupid question that was to ask, kill the awkward moment with a sad one, great idea (note sarcasm). Obviously Ellie's relieved when Balthazar doesn't seem to mind and begins to talk.

"I suppose it all started when Lucifer, my older brother, got into a fight with dad," Balthazar starts and Ellie listens raptly as he tells the story of his family. Apparently all of the children in Balthazar's family are named after biblical characters. She wonders briefly why anyone would name their child Lucifer, sure it means light bringer, but with the connotations it has in today's society surely another name would be a better idea.

"How many siblings do you have?" She asks because as he tells the story the list of people gets longer. It's a sad story of betraying fathers and brothers who ran away. In a way Ellie's almost glad her parents are dead. It's not that she wants them dead it's just that she'd much rather keep those happy memories of her peaceful family than be stuck in the middle of a war with an absent father. She can't help but feel like there's something else though, something he's not telling her. Balthazar pauses for a moment and Ellie nudges him, meaning keep going.

"Then there were these brothers," Balthazar says this like he hates the brothers but has to deal with them constantly, "Cas helped the older one and he won't admit it but he's totally crushing on him. Then the trouble was none if the others really like the brothers so Uriel and Zachariah tried to get them away from Cas," Just like family to decide what's best for you, Ellie thinks before squeezing Balthazar's hand gently, it felt warm against hers and so natural she hadn't noticed when it had grasped hers.

"Then Gabriel and Lucifer came back, they both had it in for those brothers. Lucifer messed with the younger one to annoy the older one and Gabriel messed with the older one to annoy the younger one. Then of course Gabriel accidentally went and got a crush on the younger brother and betrayed Lucifer so now both of them have gone missing again and everyone back home is fighting worse than ever," Balthazar finishes quietly. He's staring straight ahead and Ellie guesses, correctly, that he's trying to stop tears. Before thinking about it she reaches up and turns his face to look at hers. His gorgeous eyes are wet and it almost makes Ellie angry the unfairness of life. It proves that even without all the heaven and hell nonsense life can sometimes suck and that makes her cross, she sets her anger aside for the moment and focuses on Balthazar.

"I'm sorry," She says and she really is. She pulls Balthazar down into a hug and rubs his back, he may be trying to act manly and not cry but family issues are rubbish, Ellie knows from experience, and sometimes you just need a hug. For a moment Balthazar doesn't move and Ellie's terrified she's done something wrong- what if he hates hugs? What if he's about to stab me because he's a demon? What if-! Ellie's little game of What If is cut short when Balthazar hugs her back and leans his head on top of hers.

When Balthazar seems to have calmed down Ellie pulls back, she doesn't want it to get awkward, and smiles as his hand finds hers squeezing gently. Balthazar smiles back and it's warm and sincere and frankly it makes Ellie's inside flop, for Balthazar is still a very handsome man. Ellie can't quite believe how lucky she is to have got such a cute guy who's willing to open up and share a moment. Together they stand up and wander through night-time London which is beautiful albeit a little cold, Ellie learns when she shivers lightly. She feels u tug on her hand and lets herself be pulled towards Balthazar's side. He's radiating heat and Ellie already feels warmer. Did he do that on purpose? Ellie looks up at Balthazar and he shrugs nonchalantly.

"You seemed cold," Ellie lets out a giggle because that's just too freaking adorable and wraps an arm around his waist.

"I'm not now," She says and can't help the grin that crawls up her face.

The journey back to her house is filled with small chatter and laughter and occasional snuggling, and, in Ellie's opinion, was not nearly long enough. They untangle herself at the front door to her apartment. Ellie reaches up and places a kiss on Balthazar's warm cheek after a quiet thank you. As a second thought she adds, "If you want to talk about it, just tell me ok?" Without thinking she then presses her lips to Balthazar's forehead. She pulls back nervously to see if he's upset but his eyes are closed and a small smile plays at his lips.


	11. First Time For Everything- Balthazar

**AN: Unfortunately this chapter is a bit of a filler and definitely a bit lousy and a bit short too. Enjoy. or don;t it's understandable for this chapter. See the end for more notes.**

Balthazar

It's funny how humans change you. At first Balthazar was confused about how much the Winchester brothers had influenced Castiel but now he understands. Humans worm their way into your life and super-glue themselves down, and their view on life and their values soak into you and change your mind. That's why he's currently on his third date with Ellie, watching her cook, and they still haven't kissed. Their second date had been a nice dinner at a fancy restaurant in town, picked by Balthazar. They learned more about each other and had a wonderful time but Ellie had insisted this time she picked what was happening.

And she hadn't told Balthazar a thing, which was both endearing and annoying.

His instructions were to arrive at Ellie's house at seven-thirty on the dot. And that's exactly what he did with a purple lily in his hand. He had rang the doorbell of the old apartment and was slightly surprised when and old man opened the door.

"I suppose you're here for Ellie then?" The man asked and Balthazar had nodded.

"I'm sorry who are you?" Balthazar had asked and the man smiled.

"I'm Mr Whitham, Ellie's landlord, just take the staircase, red door. She's very excited, you treat her well young man," Balthazar had refrained from scoffing at being called young man by a man roughly all-of-time his junior and instead thanked the man and curiously headed upstairs and knocked on the bright red door.

"It's open!" Ellie had called and Balthazar entered her apartment. It was a cozy apartment filled with little things that reminded him of Ellie, photographs of her family, brightly coloured cushions and an absolutely delicious aroma. Balthazar had followed his, highly superior, nose and found Ellie stirring a pot in a stripy apron. She'd smiled and told him to have a seat while she just finished things up.

Balthazar still doesn't quite know what's going on.

"I thought we'd have dinner and a movie here," Ellie says from her position at the pot. She bites her lip, "I mean if that's ok with you, we can go out if you like," Balthazar smiles at her.

"No I'm happy to stay here, so long as you're here," Ellie's face turns a little pink and she nods, "So what's cooking Miss Green?" He asks and makes his way around the kitchen island to where she's stirring a bright orange sauce. Balthazar inhales deeply, right near Ellie's ear and chuckles when she jumps.

"Butter chicken," She says and swats his face away.

"Mmmm smells good," He says in a deep teasing voice and smirks when Ellie's cheeks turn pink again. What? He was getting a little bored of things going so slowly. Ellie turns off the stove and opens a cupboard near the ground giving Balthazar a nice view of her bum, not that he's looking. He's actually not he's too busy asking if Ellie needs any help.

"Here, could you please pop these on the bench?" She hands him two bowls and Balthazar places them on the bench.

"How did you know I liked curry?" Ellie gives him a small smile.

"I asked you when we were playing twenty questions," Balthazar is astounded that she took the time to remember his answer. The more time he spends with Ellie the more he realises what a wonderful person she is and suddenly Balthazar is _worrying_. Balthazar _never _worries. But all of a sudden he finds himself worrying about what would happen if Ellie got hurt because of him. What if angered hunters or demons came after her for revenge? Could he ever forgive himself? Balthazar feels warmth seeping through his shoulder and Ellie's looking at him with concern.

"Are you alright?" She asks and Balthazar shakes his head to clear his thoughts, another human thing he's picked up, and winks at her. She turns away yet another blush spreading across her face, not that Balthazar's keeping score or anything.

Ellie gestures to his jacket, "You can take that off if you like," She says and seems to realise what she's said before Balthazar even has a chance to make a teasing comment. He makes on anyway.

"My, my, Miss Green we haven't even eaten!" He does shrug off his jacket and toe off his shoes though, leaving them neatly by the front door. When he gets back to the kitchen/dining room the table is set and a glass of wine is set above his steaming plate of curry. Ellie is sitting on one side of the small table tapping her fingers anxiously. She smiles at Balthazar when he enters the room.

"Dinner is ready," She says as he sits down and watches him eating a mouthful of curry before starting on his own. Balthazar can't help the noise that comes from his throat, dammit that curry is good! It's the perfect mixture of rich and light.

"This is delicious," He says in-between mouth fulls and adds another point when Ellie blushes again replying with quiet thanks. For a moment it's quite while they're eating. It's not an awkward quiet it's peaceful and nice to just be with one another.

"Your house is nice," Ellie smiles proudly at that.

"Thanks, I did most of the decorating myself. It took me a while but I really wanted to do it myself, I like how it's turned out, though," She looks proudly around her apartment once again. Once upon a time Balthazar would have described this house as tiny and human but now he thinks of it as more cosy and still human but not with the derogatory connotations.

"So where did you learn to cook?" Ellie smiles again although his time it's a little sadder. Damn it Balthazar is it possible to have a happy conversation with you! Ellie doesn't seem to mind though.

"My dad taught me, he was an amazing cook he also taught us how to pick the best trees to climb. Mum taught us to do stuff like changes tyres and how to braid," Balthazar knows enough about humans to know this usually isn't the way it works but Ellie seems to have grown up fine so he's not really against it. What he is against however is letting his wonderful curry go cold.

When they've both finished Ellie takes the plates to the sink and begins filling it up.

"You can just chill for a bit," She says and squeezes some fairy liquid into the sink causing bubbles to start appearing. Balthazar scoffs and playfully wrestles the scrubber out of her hands and they start to scrub the dishes together. At first their washing up is sensible and they chatter about music and how cold it's getting but then Ellie accidentally splashes Balthazar who smirks and splashes her right back laughing when she gasps in shock. She narrows her eyes and smashes a fist full of bubbles into his face which he responds by doing the exact same thing. Many fistfuls of bubbles and fits of laughter later Ellie catches Balthazar's hand and looks directly into his eye with her pretty green ones. Something changes in Balthazar's stomach and all of a sudden he desperately wants to kiss Ellie. Ellie's eyes have drifted to his lips and back up to his eyes. They both lean in and Balthazar feels his eyes flutter closed and SMACK! His face is covered in bubbles and Ellie giggle evilly.

"I'm going to get you for that Miss Green!" He cries and Ellie squeaks and darts around to the other side of the island. They chase each other around the island occasionally stopping to burst into laughter until Balthazar can't take it anymore. He speeds up and catches Ellie around the waist. It takes him half a second, and even less effort to turn her around in his arms. Her eyes flick to his lips and this time she doesn't have a fistful of bubbles in her hand, so Balthazar leans in a slowly presses his lips to hers.

For a moment nothing happens so he pulls away slightly to check he hadn't completely misread her intentions and is relived when Ellie grabs his neck and pulls his mouth down to meet hers. In a few steps Ellie's back is pressed up against the island. Ellie's mouth is warm and tastes of butter chicken and something else sweet Balthazar can't quite place. Kissing her is quite slow and sensual, not at all like Balthazar imagined, but he finds he likes this better. Unfortunately Ellie has to pull back for a breath but after a second she's back to kissing him. Their lips are moving in sync- a bright light shines and the air completely changes. They're not in Ellie's apartment anymore.

**AN: Yeah I know two in one chapter feel free to ignore this one. Just wanted to say thanks again and let all you Sabriel shippers know I'm doing the 30 Day OTP Challenge (in wiritng I cannot draw for toffee) so check it out if you like :)**


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